Teddy's World

A one hundredth anniversary celebration of the teddy bear depicts the popular stuffed toy in a variety of nostalgic and surreal settings, in a photographic collection that invites readers to consider personal feelings of emotional attachment. 100,000 first printing.

De Vries has been putting her myriad antique stuffed bears into ornate and homey arrangements and photographing them for 27 years: bears reading to each other; bears in the bath; bears undergoing complicated operations (by bear surgeons); bears in school; bears in the kitchen; bears picnicking, these and many other tableaux can be found in this loving paean to her creature collection. Publishing entrepreneur Elffers (Play with Your Food), who popularized Tangram puzzles, has chosen more than a thousand of de Vries's color images for this 9.5" x 11.5" book, which includes three double folds and four single folds. The vintage bears have a refreshingly handmade look in an age of machine-made fluorescent and electric toys, and they are nattily and whimsically attired. The pithily captioned tableaux have been composed with thought, care and humor: Faux fur ensemble from Orsa de Bar. The book's complete lack of slickness, to the point of clunky cover fonts and decidedly unbusy layout, works in its favor. Acknowledgments include psychologist D.W. Winnicott's Playing and Reality (a book that "identifies the teddy bear... as a transitional object, the first 'not me'") and the book takes as its motto Saevis Inter se Convenit Ursis, or "Bears live in harmony with other bears." With such warm encouragement, everyone can see him or herself as ursine.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The first stuffed toy bear appeared in 1902, and it became universally known as the "Teddy" bear after a political cartoon depicted President Theodore Roosevelt refusing to shoot a bear cub. Teddy bears are now hot collectors' items, and these three centennial books reflect the interests of adult collectors and enthusiasts. Schiffer's guides for collectors on many topics are well known, and this one by Hockenberry follows the Schiffer format, with a historical summary of early companies in the development of the teddy bear and a decade-by-decade chronology of collectors' bears with excellent color photographs and estimated values. Pfeiffer's book is a wonderfully illustrated and detailed history of the German Steiff company, maker of the most sought-after bears. Historic photos, dating from the founding of Margarete Steiff GmbH in 1880 to the present, provide an overview of the company's products and methods of construction. Current values are not given. Teddy's World, on the other hand, is a fantasy picture book with large color photographs of teddies posed in a variety of action and landscape settings. Envisioned by the creator of Play with Your Food, it contains 182 pages of full-color photomontages and several fold-out images. It is intended as a fun book, with very little text or collector's information. Of the three, the Hockenberry book is most useful for collectors and would be welcome in public library collections. The other two will appeal to enthusiasts, but are not essential purchases. Constance Ashmore Fairchild, formerly with Univ. of Illinois Libs., Urbana-Champaign
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.